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Survey: Sedo Best Online Sales Venue

For the second year in a row, Sedo has been selected as the best online sales venue for buying and selling domain names. In a survey of 841 domain name professionals, 51% selected Sedo as the top online sales venue. Last year Sedo was first but only grabbed 36% of the vote.

The question on this year’s survey was slightly different from last year, as the question specified that it only pertained to online sales venues. Here are the complete results:

Perhaps the most interesting statistics is forums only getting 20% of the vote. Domain name forums were the top choice amongst domain professionals in the first year of the survey, but have slid ever since. It is becoming more difficult to weed through the poor domains on these forums, making the time cost of searching for good domains to buy much more expensive.

The online sales channel is changing, and these results may be different next year. Moniker is integrating its online marketplace with SnapNames, which could create a powerful force in the industry. Also, Domain Distribution Network is gaining steam as is NameMedia’s integrated marketplaces including Afternic and BuyDomains.

The next survey results will discuss which company is most innovative when it comes to selling domain names in the aftermarket.

When was the first year survey? You say forums were higher then for domain sales. Now its looks like forums are the bastion for the super cheap lowball buyers or the super rich looking for desperate deals by desperate domainers trying to unload.

primo is absolutely correct. Forum buyers seem to be stuck in a circa 2003/2004 time warp. Their concepts of ‘reseller’ prices haven’t been given an update in years and they seem to believe it’s their right to be offered premium generics for peanuts. No wonder the name quality on offer has dropped. In 2008, quality generic domain owners/sellers have no obvious incentives to participate in such insular communities.

I don’t see how purchasing a domain name in an online forum gives the buyer (or seller) any guarantee that the purchase will be legit. Is it just person to person? That requires a level of trust I’ve never experienced on the Internet, at least with a stranger. I’d never buy a domain this way…it’s like buying a stereo in an alley. I’m sure it costs more to go through an escrow service but at least one can be sure of getting paid or getting the domain one has purchased.